Takeaways from Day 3 of the MPA state doubles tennis tournament

Saturday’s action included Falmouth’s standouts delivering as expected, a thrilling Brewer-Maranacook match and a special day for a Yarmouth duo.

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Maranacook’s Eva Morrill, at right, taps tennis rackets with Brewer’s Gabby Chasse after Brewer won a tiebreaker during the state doubles tennis tournament on Saturday in Auburn. (Libby Kamrowski Kenny/Staff Photographer)

AUBURN — After two days indoors at Colby College, the state high school doubles tennis tournament moved outdoors to Edward Little High School on Saturday.

From chalk at the top to a condensed schedule, plenty happened on the EL courts. Here are four takeaways as doubles teams competed for spots in the final four on Sunday.

Falmouth favorites cruise

Falmouth had the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds in girls doubles and the No. 1 and No. 3 boys pairings. Those duos saw little resistance Saturday as they cruised to berths in the semifinals.

Girls No. 1 pairing Helena Nelson and Cici Benson took down Winthrop’s Ellie Barrett and Aida Wolf, 6-0, 6-1, before defeating Ellsworth’s Jazz Smith and Allie Bivins, 6-3, 6-3. The team of Ava Draeger and Lilly Woolf topped Vivienne Donnery and Stella Williams of Kennebunk, 6-0, 6-0, and Brooklyn Hart and Ava Libby of Waterville, 6-2, 6-3.

“This is our first year playing together, but we’ve really figured out how to work together,” Woolf said. “I think we’ve both worked really hard at net to get volleys in, and we’re good at helping each other out when one of us is struggling — just staying calm and remembering to have fun.”

In boys play, top-seeded Luke Kusel and Eli Sidhu beat Declan Miller and Owen Tetlow of Caribou, 6-1, 6-3, before defeating brothers Silas and Otis Wellenius of Waynflete, 6-2, 6-0. No. 3 seed Blake McAteer and Ben Sidhu beat Washington Academy’s Emilio Corelli and Anthonio Palmero, 6-2, 6-1, and Hermon’s Nate Sullivan and Carter Dubois, 6-3, 6-2.

Brewer duo wins thrilling match

While Falmouth’s matches were among the many that had little suspense, a few were back-and-forth affairs. One such match was a girls round-of-16 clash between Brewer’s Reece McKenney and Gabby Chasse and Maranacook’s Greta Barnes-Buhker and Eva Morrill.

Amidst a number of what McKenney said were errant shots, the Brewer duo dropped the opening set, 6-4. They battled back to win the second, 7-5, and although Barnes-Buhker and Morrill fought hard in the tiebreaker, the Brewer tandem prevailed, 9-7.

“At first, we were hitting the net and hitting it (long) — it was not good — but we just kind of took a deep breath and got the next set,” McKenney said. “After that, we were ready to play the tiebreaker, which helped that go well for us.”

Yarmouth duo enjoys special day

The schedule changes resulting from Thursday and Friday’s rain created a scheduling conundrum for many tennis players also celebrating prom this weekend. Among them? Yarmouth’s Barbara Day and Lila McNaughton.

The third-seeded juniors wrapped up their 7-5, 6-4 quarterfinal win over Brunswick’s Caroline Martin and May Wickwire just before 3 p.m. Saturday. That only left so much time to return home and get ready, and while they couldn’t linger long, McNaughton took a moment to appreciate the day.

“It’s a lot, but all of the things that are happening are happy,” McNaughton said. “I love playing tennis, and I love getting to go to prom. We get to enjoy a lot of things in such a short period of time, and that’s something we should be happy about and not worried about.”

No rest for the weary

Just 45 minutes after their hard-fought opening win, McKenney and Chasse were back on the court for their quarterfinal against Brunswick’s Bella Farkas and Sophie Robertson. That was a theme on a day in which a condensed schedule forced many duos to play matches in quick succession.

Thornton Academy’s Albert Slanar and Yuta Sato had just 30 minutes after defeating Avery Fowlie and Elijah Smith of Boothbay before returning to face Brendan Shaw and Evan Williams of Brunswick. Even for Falmouth’s McAteer and Ben Sidhu, who got more than an hour of rest between matches, the day was still taxing.

“You just have to turn around quickly and reset your mind, really — forget about the last match and think about the next one,” Sidhu said. “We’re pretty tired, but we’ll be ready to (come back and play more tomorrow), definitely.”

Sunday’s semifinal schedule

• Girls 1: Sophia Robertson/Bella Farkas (Brunswick) vs. No. 1 Cici Benson/Helena Nelson (Falmouth)

• Girls 2: No. 3 Barbara Day/Lila McNaughton (Yarmouth) vs. No. 2 Ava Draeger/Lilly Woolf (Falmouth)

• Boys 1: No. 4 Hamilton Greene/Gustavo Zanin (Thornton Academy) vs. No. 1 Luke Kusel/Eli Sidhu (Falmouth)

• Boys 2: Brendan Shaw/Evan Williams (Brunswick) vs. No. 3 Blake McAteer/Ben Sidhu (Falmouth)

All doubles semifinals matches will begin at 11 a.m. at Bates College. The finals will follow the singles quarterfinals, which are set to follow the doubles semis.